There’s a myth going around involving satellite TV on boats. There are those who say it’s out of range of the average yacht owner. Some folks think that you need a megayacht with a dedicated engineer on staff. In other words, it’s just too complex for your average weekender. Let me tell you, nothing could be further from the truth.
Why marine satellite TV
Satellite TV has had a few hard knocks the last few years. There was a real push about 5 years ago for people to drop traditional pay TV. They thought they would pay less with streaming. With the average person now paying about $100 a month for streaming subscriptions, satellite TV seems like a much better value. It’s true that DIRECTV and DISH have both lost subscribers in recent years, but they’re still the two largest pay-TV providers in the country. When you choose satellite TV, you’re still backing a winner.
This is especially true for boat owners. Cell phone service peters out between 3 and 10 miles offshore. This is true even if you put in a cell phone signal booster. (Which you should, but that’s another article.) If you want reliable entertainment in the evenings and the opportunity to see the sports you want, you’ll want satellite TV. Satellite TV works up to about 50 miles off shore which is plenty for most people. Best of all, the picture quality isn’t affected by the distance off shore. Cell signals get weaker, and that means slower data transfers. That’s not a problem with satellite.
Is satellite TV all that hard to use?
The answer is a solid “no.” Once the marine antenna and hardware is installed, it’s just like using satellite TV on land. There’s a bit of configuration that takes place before that, but that’s done by the installer. You don’t need to have any special information on hand just to use satellite television on your boat.
It’s also true that you can put satellite TV on practically any size cabin cruiser, houseboat, or yacht. I wouldn’t try putting a marine antenna on a raft, dinghy, motorboat, or anything like that. But if it has a bed below decks, chances are it’s big enough to support a marine satellite antenna.
Where did this myth come from?
Cards on the table, there are large yachts where the engineer handles the satellite TV. There’s a bit of legerdemain involved in using satellite TV from different countries. When you get far enough from the US, you’ll need a different satellite account and different receivers. The wiring may even be different. In cases like that, it certainly does help to have an expert on board.
But really, if you’re staying around the good old U. S. of A., that’s not an issue. Even if you’re just going to stay in the Western Hemisphere, it’s not that hard to make the transition from country to country. It’s just the folks who go from the US to Europe who really have to think about how it all goes together. If that’s you, I tip my hat to you and your success in life. Simple as that. For the rest of us, it’s good enough to have a medium-sized boat that stays around North America.
Get the “straight dope” from Signal Connect
Chances are you found this article by Googling the question. You probably have a lot more questions, too. There are hundreds of articles about marine satellite on this blog, but you know what’s better? Have an expert in your contacts list.
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